Back in August I had a leporine interloper in my garage. It ate and shat in my birdseed, ate some stray clippings by the lawnmower, just pooped all over the garage, generally. And after several rounds of decluttering (and a couple of dump runs), I felt like I'd finally won. I'd eliminated the sources of food. There was no more poop. The rabbit was gone.
I have the checking kind of OCD, and every night before bed I need to check the burners, locks, and garage door. So last night I turned on the light to the garage, opened the garage door...
...and saw a rabbit sitting next to our SUV, staring at me.
I almost had to laugh at the absurdity of it. He was back. Or maybe not him, the rabbit-who-wrecked-my-mid-August, but still, a rabbit. I opened the garage door. He didn't move. I made a quick motion toward the SUV, hoping to startle it and make it run. No dice. I moved closer. It ran behind some big plastic bins we use to store Halloween and Christmas decorations.
At this point it's 10:15pm, my dogs are patiently waiting inside to go to bed, and it feels like my mind is on fire. So I make a few more attempts, can't find him, and I think, screw it, I need to sleep. I put out the live trap with a couple broken-up carrots at the end, and went to bed.
I took a large dose of zzquil, which did its thing. I slept well. This morning I checked, and I can see where he's hiding. I'm waiting for my partner to leave (I work from home, she doesn't, so she always takes the vehicle) so I can try to chase him out of the garage. Again.
Again and again and again. What's with rabbits in my garage this year? There isn't even a particularly good food souce - he dug through a bunch of planters we'd brought in after the weather turned, and was probably disappointed to find that they're just dirt. No roots, nothing good to eat. In fact, nothing to eat in our garage at all. Getting him out will be better for us, and better for him, too. It might be colder outside, but at least there's lots of food out there. If he hangs around the garage much longer, he's going to start to starve.
This isn't the day off I had planned. And I'm refusing to let it eat at me completely: before I try to chase him out, and then spend time shop vac-ing up the rabbit poop all over the garage, I'm going to sit down with my cup of strong, French press coffee. Savour it. Because even if the morning is going to wind up being rabbit-related activities, I'm determined to carve out at least a little bit of time for myself.